5/23/2006

Qatar is 666?

The tiny Gulf state of Qatar, famed mainly for having the Arab world's largest reserves of natural gas, added another record to its name Tuesday -- one of the world's most expensive telephone numbers.

At a charity event in the capital of Doha, a Qatari bidder paid $2.75 million for the mobile phone number 666-6666.

The winner, who made the highest bid 10 minutes into the auction, declined requests for interviews. Eight people took part in the auction, organized by Qatar Telecom to help raise funds for charity, paying 3,000 Qatari riyals ($824.60) per ticket.

Funds from the ticket sales were given to a local charity, while the 10 million riyals from the sale of the number will be used to expand medical services.